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Velazquez saddened Mexico-Canada fracas occurred

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By Bryan Hoch
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MLB.com |

TAMPA, Fla. -- Gil Velazquez emerged relatively unscathed from Saturday's World Baseball Classic fracas between Team Mexico and Team Canada, but the Yankees' infielder said he was saddened to have been involved in such an incident.

"Instead of people talking about us playing good baseball, now they're talking about a brawl," said Velazquez, who was playing shortstop for Mexico during the game at Chase Field. "That's the sad part about it.

"We don't want to be known as wild people, crazy people. We are good, decent people and we play good baseball. That's what we want to be known for. The sad part is, all that got thrown out the window when the brawls went down."

In the game, Canada's Chris Robinson laid down a ninth-inning bunt single with Canada leading, 9-3. Mexico pitcher Arnold Leon threw three pitches at the next batter, Rene Tosoni, who was hit in the back with the third pitch to spark the benches-clearing melee.

"I really wasn't scared. I was under control," Velazquez said. "More than anything, I was just making sure nobody got a sucker-punch on me, so I was looking around. It was hard to know who was who because everybody [was wearing] red."

The incident was attributed to a misunderstanding about the tiebreaking rules in the first round, round-robin format that places a premium on the number of runs scored.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.